Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!eric
From: eric@ists.ists.ca (Eric M. Carroll)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: A basic Wish List
Message-ID: <5802@ists.ists.ca>
Date: 6 Mar 90 07:41:53 GMT
References: <1066@philmtl.philips.ca> <5644@ists.ists.ca> <6319@orca.wv.tek.com> <5727@ists.ists.ca> <3302-82ggpc2@ficc.uu.net> <1099@philmtl.philips.ca>
Reply-To: eric@ists.ists.ca.ists.ca (Eric M. Carroll)
Organization: Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science
Lines: 34

>All vey motherhood and apple-pie, but what is the relevance to the
>discussion?

Because the broken software in question is the program that put the
broken header in that line in the first place. Don't change all of elm's
user interface just to satisfy some broken software that certain sites
run. My novice user's like elm. If you want a more powerful user agent, use
gnu or mh or mush. Lets keep elm's objectives in focus - the novice user
has precedent.

>  Doesn't elm already allow you to edit the headers?  The
>suggestion is only that it be done in a more consistent, useful way.  In
>what way does this "break everything else"?

The explicit suggestion was to put header info in with the reply,
thereby allowing novice users to nuke messages with simple editing
errors and confusing them even more with archaic and meaningless lines.
Right now, it is somewhat hidden. Please follow the discussion - 
I have stated this already.

>>Users care about CONTENT
>>not PROCESS. They give not one whit about HOW it happened, just that it did.
>
>Until things start going wrong.....

Then they hassle the local system admin. Do you really believe they
solve the problem for themselves? If you do, you work with programmers,
or very computer literate non-programmers. I work with scientists and 
administrators, who are not stupid, just uninterested in details that 
don't directly contribute to doing their job as they perceive it.
And are certainly uninterested in mailer details.